Source: freedigitalphotos.net
Two weeks ago, the Black Sheep Agency posted a link on their Facebook page- 7 Ways to Cultivate Your Creativity. The article, originally from the Scientific American website, offers several tips and suggestions to tap into your creative stores. Paying attention- real attention- to your surroundings, completing brain teasers and writing a stream of consiousness are all great ways to push through a mental block.
The article got me thinking about the various things we do in our office- whether intentionally or unintentionally- for artistic inspiration.
Doodle. I've always been one to doodle; my notebook margins in high school and college were filled with hearts and Necker cubes. Luckily for me, my co-workers at Sonic embrace doodling too. Our most recent project is a growing collection of George Washington stress toys, dressed up for modern times.
Source: omwoods.blogspot.com
Play with your words. A lot of our projects at Sonic rely on catchy taglines and engaging copy. We all appreciate a good pun, and we toss ideas around as a team. When I'm really stuck, I like to go to dictionary.com and make good use of their online thesaurus. I realize that sounds a little boring- I would love to say that I jump backwards five times and whip an eggbeater through the air or something original like that- but it works for me.
Organize something. Everyone in our office makes a sincere effort to keep the space tidy. While some of us are more Type A than others, we all seem to feel the stress when things start to pile up. I'm not sure what the science is behind this one- it might simply be that focusing on a different task, any task, will help distract and loosen your mind, or it could be that removing clutter from your physical space simultaneously breaks up the clutter in your brain.
Whether you work in marketing- where the purpose of your work is originality and standing out from the crowd- or not, we can all benefit from the tips offered in the article above. How do you bust through a creativity rut?